Orange crates were anything but ordinary

by Juanita Lovret
Reprinted courtesy of the Tustin News

Driver Fenlon
Mathews atop his wagonload of crates at the Tustin Packing House. Crates
with the name of the packing house stenciled on gave way to colorful labels.

As a child I had no idea that the oranges
from our orchard eventually traveled to market in wooden crates with
colorful labels. The field boxes that were unloaded in our orchard the day
before the pickers arrived were the only boxes I ever saw. Stenciled with
the name of the packing house, these heavy wooden boxes took a lot of abuse.

When Orange growers, such as Dr. William
Burgess Wall, who packed and shipped their own fruit in the early years
found the baskets and barrels customarily used to ship fruit were
unsatisfactory for sending oranges east by railroad car, they developed a
lightweight wooden orange crate for marketing.

Manufactured in a rectangular shape, 12 x 12
x 27 inches, with a slatted lid, this box was durable and attractive as well
as easy to handle and load quickly into a railroad car. Wooden crates were
used from the late 1800s until the 1950s when they were replaced by
cardboard boxes.

In the beginning the name of the packing
house and the grade of the orange packed inside was stenciled on each crate.
Although this identification was sufficient, it was not especially
attractive and had little appeal for the wholesalers who bought the oranges.

As a result a colorful 10 x11 inch label was
designed to attract attention and promote the product. Designed by
commercial artists, most of these labels were produced in San Francisco and
Los Angeles.

Gordon T. McClellan and Jay T. Last, authors
of “California Orange Box Labels,” estimate that there were 8,000 label
designs at the peak of the orange industry in California. With adaptations
this resulted in 15,000 labels. The label designs changed over the yeas.

From 1880 until after World War I labels
featured flowers, birds, animals and scenic views with a few historic
themes. By 1920 the labels switched to stressing the health benefits of
oranges and orange juice. From 1930 until the mid-1950s when the cardboard
carton came into use, label designs used more lettering and geometric shapes
than illustrations.

Label production ended abruptly in 1955 when
the rising cost of wood forced packing houses to switch to cardboard cartons
for shipping. Simple designs were printed on the box ends, ending the need
for the colorful labels. Thousands of unused labels were thrown out or
stashed in basements of the packinghouses.

Stone lithography was used to produce the
early labels. Later photo composition and offset printing came into use.
Surprisingly, few artists signed their designs. Probably no one ever thought
that in later years orange crate label collecting would become popular.

Because it is virtually impossible to remove
a label from an old crate, labels from the early years are rare, but there
are many unused labels available at nominal cost. Collectors trade and sell
their labels or buy from shops or on the internet. A number of books have
been written on the subject. Prices range from low to high, depending upon
supply and demand.

Strangely, orange crate labels are collected
for the role they played in the history of advertising, rather than their
contribution to the citrus industry.